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Reading Unit 2: A Deep Study of Character
Reading Unit 2: A Deep Study of Character
Essential Questions:
Essential Questions:
How is the structure of a narrative developed in a short story (plot, characters-change over time/traits, setting) compared to a novel?
How does the author of a short story include craft (mood, theme)
What are the common elements across short stories and how are they developed? (compare/contrast)
How does the setting (time and place) impact character motivation?
How does a character’s desire and motivation evolve over the course of a short story? (impact of scene vs. impact of chapter) How do secondary characters impact the main character?
Priority Standards:
Priority Standards:
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 6 here.)
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 6 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Supporting Standards:
Supporting Standards:
Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
Compare and contrast one author's presentation of events with that of another (e.g., a memoir written by and a biography on the same person).
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 6 here.)
ELA Learning Expectations:
ELA Learning Expectations:
Curiosity-The desire to know more about the world.
Openness-The willingness to consider ways of being and thinking in the world.
Engagement-A sense of investment and involvement in learning.
Creativity-The ability to use novel approaches for generating, investigating and representing ideas.
Persistence-The ability to sustain interest in and attention to short-and long-term projects.
Responsibility-The ability to take ownership of one's actions and understand the consequences of those actions for oneself and others.
Flexibility-The ability to adapt to situations, expectations, or demands.
Metacognition-The ability to reflect on ones own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural process used to construct knowledge.
National Council of Teachers of English & National Writing Project (2011)
Concepts & Skills:
Concepts & Skills:
Bend I
Students will be able to:
identify subtle details can give a lot of information about a character, especially about their character traits
reevaluate and revise their thinking about characters' traits, supporting that new thinking with text evidence
notice and identify parts of characters that are less likeable using a movie clip from a popular film- then do this same work with characters in their own books
evaluate and choose which character traits matter the most to what happens in the story
draw upon a repertoire of work to help them think more deeply about characters, writing short or long about their reading for a brief amount of time, depending on their fluency and aims, using tops to set goals and improve the quality of their writing about reading
consider the link between pressures on characters and behavior, using the read-aloud text and personal experiences, bringing this thinking to their books
evaluate their book as a whole, looking back on their characters and their growth
Bend II
Students will be able to:
consider when the setting affects that characters deeply, highlighting on the setting's mood
pay attention to the author's specific language, grasping the mood, atmosphere, norms and tempo of a place- all of which can matter deep and hidden ways to a character
investigate the relationship between the setting and characters by paying attention to inconsistencies between characters' behaviors and their inner thinking, possibly caused by external pressures from their surroundings
consider that the setting in a story can keep changing not physically, but psychologically, tracing the setting over time, investigating how the place changes, and how it affects characters differently in different moments
identify that characters can also act as a positive or negative force on a place
consider how the setting changes in time, often bringing in backstory to develop the character, alert to these time changes and how they give the reader added insight
Bend III
Students will be able to:
study a video, exploring motifs in the story by analyzing troubles characters face and consider how these conflicts become subjects or motifs in a story
develop ideas about themes by studying what an author has to say about a motif
investigate layered symbolism in narratives that are often related to significant themes
take charge of collaborative reading lives by considering what is worth working on together, then making sure their reading and writing reflect on that focus
make choices and draw flexibly on a range of reading skills during a read aloud
Instructional Strategies:
Instructional Strategies:
Reading Workshop to include a daily mini lesson (15 min), writing time and share. Reading time will include small group work, individual convergences, peer editing/revising.
Mini-lesson will include anchor texts and provided strategy notes to develop reading anchor charts.
Options for publishing throughout the unit
Reader's Workshop
Mini-lessons
Guided reading groups, working on fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, word work, written response.
Partner reading / Turn and talk
Independent active engagement
Sharing
(Learning activities, labs, etc.)
Assessments:
Assessments:
Readers Notebook (digital)
Student Goal Setting / Assessing
Constructive Response to Literature
Stop and Jot
Vocabulary and Word Work Assessments
Exit Slips
Checklist
Resources:
Resources:
Lucy Calkins Reading Program
Leveled Classroom Text Set
Vocabulary and Word Work
Technology
Mentor Texts:
Raymond’s Run
Thank you, Ma’am
Popularity
The Fight
The Circuit
Eleven
Stray
Everything Will Be OK
Inside Out
Tied to Zelda
Scout’s Honor
Your Move
Pink and Say
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